Portrait of Kornelia Ender

Birthday profile

Kornelia Ender

Kornelia Ender, East German swimmer

Born
October 25, 1958
Age in 2026
68
Zodiac sign
Scorpio
Birth year
1958

About Kornelia Ender

Kornelia Ender (later Matthes now Grummt, born 25 October 1958) is a former East German swimmer who at the 1976 Summer Olympics became the first woman swimmer to win four gold medals at a single Olympic Games, all in world record times. It was later proven that the East German team doctors had systematically administered steroids to their athletes (albeit without the athletes' knowledge). As she had exhibited symptoms of steroid use in 1976 (deep voice, overdeveloped body), strong suspicion was cast on the validity of Ender's accomplishments. Ender trained from a young age and won her first Olympic medals as a 13-year-old at the 1972 Olympics in Munich: three silver medals, including one in the 200 m individual medley, finishing behind Australia's Shane Gould. Over the following years she broke 32 world records in individual events, including the four at the Montreal Games. In 1991, she addressed the long-held suspicions about her physical condition at the 1976 Games, acknowledging that team doctors and coaches had given her numerous injections of drugs over the preceding months (cf. doping in East Germany). Ender said that she did not know at the time, nor had she ever subsequently found out, exactly what the drugs were. She said she was told only that the drugs would help her "regenerate and recuperate" and therefore, although she was surprised by the muscle mass she added, she nonetheless attributed it simply to her rigorous training. When she became suspicious and refused to take chlorodehydromethyltestosterone in 1977 she was banned from the team by Manfred Ewald. Ender was married for four years to East German backstroke swimmer and multiple Olympic champion Roland Matthes. She is now married to former East German track and field athlete and bobsledder Steffen Grummt. As she had exhibited symptoms of steroid use in 1976, strong suspicion was cast on the validity of Ender's accomplishments.

Biography source: Wikipedia. The profile adds birthday-specific historical context from the Celebs Birthday Today editorial database.

Kornelia Ender timeline

  1. Kornelia Ender (later Matthes now Grummt, born 25 October 1958) is a former East German swimmer who at the 1976 Summer Olympics became the first woman swimmer to win four gold medals at a single Olympic Games, all in world record times.
  2. Ender trained from a young age and won her first Olympic medals as a 13-year-old at the 1972 Olympics in Munich: three silver medals, including one in the 200 m individual medley, finishing behind Australia's Shane Gould.
  3. As she had exhibited symptoms of steroid use in 1976, strong suspicion was cast on the validity of Ender's accomplishments.

The world when Kornelia Ender was born

Kornelia Ender was born in 1958. The year snapshot below places that birthday in its cultural and historical setting: the music and films people were following, the headlines shaping public life, and the everyday prices families encountered.

Culture in 1958

  • #1 song"Nel Blu Dipinto di Blu (Volare)" – Domenico Modugno
  • Top movieGigi
  • Top TV showGunsmoke
  • Best-selling bookDoctor Zhivago – Boris Pasternak

Headlines and milestones

  • Major sports momentNFL Championship "Greatest Game Ever Played" — Colts vs Giants
  • Top headlineNASA created as the United States enters the Space Race
  • Technology milestoneNASA founded
  • Defining fadHula Hoops — 25 million sold in 4 months
  • Notable inventionHula Hoop
  • World population2.93 billion

United States snapshot

  • U.S. leaderDwight D. Eisenhower
  • Sports championNew York Yankees (World Series)
  • Also wonSt. Louis Hawks (NBA)
  • U.S. population174.1M

1958 versus 2026

These figures put everyday life in Kornelia Ender's birth year beside the site's latest United States snapshot.

Measure19582026
Gas$0.31$3.45/gal
Average home$12,750$435,000
Average income$6,600$67,500
Minimum wage$1.00$7.25/hr (federal)
Movie ticket$0.68$11.95
Postage stamp$0.04$0.73
Population174.1M341 million

Sources and editorial standards

This profile combines a biographical source with structured birthday and historical context. Sources recorded for this profile: Wikipedia, International Olympic Committee, Olympedia. See our editorial policy for sourcing, corrections, and review standards.

Read the source biography on Wikipedia. Wikipedia text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License.